Damage Control
by TheBreakfastGenie
Summary: Gibbs wakes up in a hospital. This time he remembers everything... except how he got there. As he puts it all together, he realizes what, or better said, who, the missing piece is. Sort of Judgment Day re-imagined. Jibbs.
1. Chapter 1

**AN**: Wow, this site sucks. It took three tries for the document manager to load properly. In other news, guess who's finally writing a new story? I'm working on the second chapter right now. It will probably be somewhere between 5 and 10 chapters total. I hope I'll be able to update regularly but that remains to be seen. I'll most likely be posting each chapter as soon as it's done, but I might space some out if I'm writing quickly. This story is based on Judgment Day but it's also very different. (And maybe a few elements of Hiatus as well.) If it doesn't entirely make sense now have no fear, all will be revealed eventually. Sorry this first chapter is so short, other things were intended for it but I just _had_ to break it there. Also sorry about the long AN.

Damage Control

Chapter One

Jethro's eyes fluttered open and shut a few times, unaccustomed to the bright overhead lights. He took in his surroundings, taking note of the man seated in the chair beside his bed.

"What happened?" The back of his throat ached when he spoke. The man at the bedside glanced up sharply.

"You don't remember?"

"Relax, Duck. I remember you," Ducky was visibly relieved. "I'm just not sure how I got… here."

"That's not terribly uncommon. The memory loss will most likely be temporary," Ducky asserted.

"How long?" Jethro kept his questions short. His voice was still raspy.

"Almost two days. You were pretty heavily sedated after surgery, which is probably also the reason you don't remember the… incident." Jethro gasped suddenly. "Did you remember something, Jethro?" Ducky asked hopefully. Instead of answering, Jethro closed his eyes. He hoped by blocking out the world he could hold on to the image that had flashed through his head.

"No," he said finally. "Where's Jenny?" Saying her name was like turning a key. It was her face he was thinking of, framed by red hair. "She was there, wasn't she?" Jethro was so focused on trying to remember what had happened in… California, that was it—that he missed Ducky's look of discomfort.

"Yes, Jethro, she was. It was incredible, really, what you did. It's a shame you don't remember it. Are you sure you can't recall anything?"

"Only in pieces," he muttered.

"It will get easier," Ducky reassured him. "In any case… you'd been shot three times, once in the right leg. I'm amazed you could even move, with a bullet in your leg and the amount of blood you lost. You know, I've always found it remarkable; the effect adrenaline can have on the human body. You carried Jenny on your back out of that dusty old—"

"…Diner," Jethro finished. "It was a diner, wasn't it?"

"_You got your cell, Jen?" he called, hoping desperately that she was still conscious. Jethro had dropped his own cellphone when the shooting started. _

"_Negative," Jenny coughed, using her good arm to show him the blood-covered remains of her smartphone that had been long ago rendered useless by a bullet. _

"_Dammit," he muttered. "In that case, the first thing to do is get out of here." _

"_You're in no condition to drive," Jenny muttered weakly. Her voice was growing fainter. _

"_We don't have much of a choice, Jen. There could be more coming."_

"_There aren't."_

"_We don't know that. And don't talk so much, focus on breathing." Jethro saw her nod in his peripheral vision. _

She didn't have her damn phone… why couldn't he remember the important things? Unless he'd known the truth all along and had just been avoiding it, because it was too awful to face…

"Ducky," he asked hoarsely, fear and horror threatening to steal his voice, "is Jenny dead?"


	2. Chapter 2

AN: Okay, I didn't realize just quite how cliffhanger-y that last ending was. Oh well. I'm probably going to be pretty busy this week so I don't know how quickly the next chapter will be done but hopefully I'll have it up by Saturday at the latest, and probably much sooner. I hope everyone is okay with this chapter! (By the way FF doesn't like the leave in the spaces I put between the AN and the title and the story and such so I'm experimenting with it. Sorry if it seems crowded.)

* * *

Damage Control

Chapter Two

Jethro's words were weighed down by apprehension. The minute the question was out of his mouth he realized he wasn't sure he could bear to hear the answer. Yet he had to know.

"No, Jethro, Jenny is not dead, she is merely…" Ducky hesitated. He was an admirer of words but in a situation such as this they always seemed to fail him. "…comatose," he finally completed.

Jethro didn't know whether to be relieved or terrified. At least she was still alive. For now.

"How bad?" he croaked.

"Well she's expected to wake up. Her doctor doesn't foresee any permanent brain damage but it's difficult to be certain at this stage." Jethro let out the breath he didn't realize he'd been holding.

"I want to see her." Ducky shook his head.

"You'll have to ask the doctor, Jethro, but I don't believe they'll want you out of bed yet."

"I need to, Duck. I need her!" Jethro tried to stay calm but he was rapidly losing control. He needed to see Jenny, to know she was breathing, even if she was unconscious. His voice shook. "I need Jen."

"I know you do, Jethro," his friend replied softly. "But unfortunately, it is not up to me." Jethro swallowed hard but immediately he regretted it. He had probably been intubated during surgery because it was sore as hell.

"Is anyone with her?" It should have been him, and he hated the idea that someone else was there for her instead, but he didn't want Jenny to be alone. Whether or not she knew the difference he didn't want her alone.

"I sent Ziva. I would have gone myself but I was told you'd probably wake up first." Jethro realized that he'd been so worried about Jenny that he'd forgotten to ask about Tony and Ziva. They were the ones that had told him she was gone; they had helped him find that goddamn diner…

_Jethro had left Tony and Ziva in charge of the security detail after the funeral. Agent Callen wanted to meet for a drink. They had just sat down at the bar when his cell rang. _

_"Boss, we have a problem. Jenny ditched us." _

_"Dammit, DiNozzo, why didn't you stop her?" _

_"It's not easy, Boss." Jethro swore under his breath. What did Jenny absolutely have to do that she couldn't drag her escort along for? _

_"Do you know where she went?"_

_"Working on it. Ziva can text you the address. You want us to meet you there?" _

_"No, DiNozzo, I can handle it," he answered, ending the call. Callen turned to him. _

_"Trouble?"_

_"The director slipped her security detail." Callen smirked. _

_"Jenny always was a feisty one. Need any help?"_

_"No, I've got back-up." _

_"Alright. I have to work later so we'll have to finish catching up next time you're in town."_

_"Yeah, sure," Jethro mumbled, fiddling with his phone. _

_"Need some help, Gibbs?" Callen asked, amused. _

_"The damn message won't open," Jethro complained. _

_"Here, I got it," Callen offered, taking the phone. After a moment Ziva's message appeared on the screen. "Wow, is that where Jenny's headed? That's gotta be way out in the desert. What's she doing?"_

_"Whatever it is, I don't like it," Gibbs muttered. He put his phone in his pocket on his way out the door. _

"Anthony is outside with Timothy and Abigail. We arrived yesterday. Abby is practically beside herself with worry. They only let her see you for a few minutes last night. I tried to explain it was because you'd just had your surgery but I don't think it helped much. She's quite distraught, I'm afraid."

"Send her, Duck, she'll want to know I'm awake." Ducky nodded.

"I'll be right back, then."

"Gibbs, Gibbs, Gibbs!" Abby hurried into his room wobbling on her unstable boots. "I'm so glad you're awake! I was so worried about you, but, I mean, you're Gibbs, so you had to be okay, right?" Jethro smiled. Only Abby could cheer him up right now.

"I'm fine, Abs."

"You took three bullets, Gibbs! That's, like, a really big deal! Not to mention you totally saved Jenny's life!" Abby saw his face fall and threw a hand over her mouth. "Oh my God, she's still alive, right? You would have told me if she died, wouldn't you Ducky?" Ducky sighed.

"There hasn't been any change, Abby." Abby started breathing again.

"Right, I just need to calm down…" she sat down in a chair by the window. Ducky was about to resume his previous seat when he heard a knock at the door.

"Come in!" he called wearily, seating himself.

"I heard Gibbs was awake, think he's up for talking?"

"I am, DiNozzo." Tony walked into the room, stopping at the side of the bed opposite Ducky.

"You remember what happened, Boss?" he asked levelly.

"Some. Getting there," Jethro answered.

"You called 911," Tony supplied helpfully. Jethro thought for a moment.

"No, that's not right. My cell slipped out during the firefight. And Jenny's took a bullet." Tony's eyebrows drew together.

"It was your number, Boss. You're sure you didn't make the call?"

"I'm sure, DiNozzo!" Jethro complained grumpily. "It wasn't me."

"Did Je-the Director? She could have used your phone."

"No, she didn't. I asked her if she had a phone and she said no… she didn't say she'd already made the call. She would have told me. And you can call her Jenny, Tony." Tony nodded.

"Probie! Get in here!" He called. Tim appeared in the doorway.

"Yeah?"

"Contact LA 911. Find out if they still have the recording of the call from the diner. I want it ASAP."

"On it," Tim vanished from the doorway.

"If it wasn't one of you then who called 911?"

"To hell if I know, DiNozzo!" Jethro complained.

"Well it certainly wasn't one of the shooters," Ducky added.

"There were four total, by the way. They're all dead."

"You get IDs?" Jethro asked.

"They were hired guns. So in addition to the Mystery Samaritan we've got the question of…"

"…who hired them," Jethro finished for him. "And Jenny is probably the only one who knows."


	3. Chapter 3

AN: I meant to have this up yesterday but I was not productive. I hope everyone likes the chapter. I feel like it's still kind of slow but things should start picking up soon. I think this may be a little longer than chapter two but I didn't bother to actually do a word count. I forgot to mention this in chapter two but I am abosutely amazed by the response to this story! Wow! So great thanks to everyone who's alerted, favorited, reviewed or even just read. On a less exciting note, I'm going to be very busy tomorrow so expect chapter four Thursday at the earliest, though it's more likely to be Friday. Happy reading!

* * *

Damage Control

Chapter Three

Tony, Jethro, and Ducky exchanged grim looks. None of them was comfortable with the idea of whoever masterminded the attempted assassination of the director of NCIS remaining at large. The entire exchange went unnoticed by Abby who was furiously gulping _Caf-POW!_ to compensate for the roughly six hours of sleep she'd had total over the last two days. The solemn mood was interrupted by Tony's ringtone. He glanced at the caller ID and groaned.

"Agent DiNozzo, Sir. Of course, Sir, just a moment," Tony covered the mouthpiece of his phone with one hand. "Abs, Acting Director Vance would like to speak with you. Apparently he brought someone in to do forensics and—" Abby's head shot up.

"What have they done to my lab, Tony?" she asked, fury igniting her eyes.

"I really couldn't say, Abs, but you'd better come out in the hall and talk to him. He also wants a conference call with an updated report on the investigation."

"He does realize there's nothing to update on, right?" Abby grumbled, reluctantly following Tony into the hallway.

"We'll be right back, Boss," he promised hurriedly as he exited the room. Jethro stared at the wall. He was beginning to regret not making Jenny fill him in before things got ugly. If he had he'd know who wanted her dead.

_"Hey, you two havin' a party without me?" Jethro asked, announcing his presence as he opened the door of the half-restored restaurant._

_"No party," Mike answered grimly. Jethro watched his two companions closely. Jenny's look was easy to read—"How much of that did he hear?" Jethro wondered what he had missed. He could have asked who or what they were waiting for, he could have asked why Mike had come. But he didn't. He'd spent enough time questioning Jenny already, now was the time to trust her. _

_"We're expecting a few more… guests," Jenny explained. _

_"Armed," Mike added helpfully. _

_"When?" _

_"Ain't that the million dollar question?" Mike answered. _

_"I found some tea," Jenny offered, changing the subject. _

_"What kind?" Mike replied. _

_"Does it matter?" Jenny wondered._

_"I only drink lemon grass."_

_"I just never saw you as the tea-drinking type."_

_"He's not," Jethro muttered. _

_"Well, no water, so much for the tea," Jenny shrugged. _

_"Saw a tank out back," Mike contradicted. _

_"I'll go," she volunteered. _

_"Nah, I wanna hit the head one more time anyway. You're up," Mike disappeared out the back door. Jethro turned to Jenny, who was shaking her head in disbelief. _

_"He's trying to give us one last moment together."_

_"Wanna make use of it?" he joked, hoping to lighten the mood. He worried that he would piss Jenny off instead, given what had happened between them, but she appeared neither angered nor amused. She drew closer to him. Jenny sighed; a soft, sad sound. She cupped one hand around his face._

_"Just in case one of us doesn't make it out of here alive," she whispered, pressing their lips together. He didn't hesitate to return to the kiss—this was a day of acting, not thinking. The kiss was brief but meaningful. When she drew back Jethro could see the tell-tale shine of tears forming in her eyes, tears he knew she'd never allow to fall. _

_And then the shooting started. _

Jethro was awakened from his reverie by the click of the doorknob. He expected it to be Abby and Tony returning from their conference call, but it was a nurse who appeared in the doorway. She looked at Jethro, confused.

"What?" he complained.

"Doctor Mallard," the nurse answered, rotating slowly to face Ducky, "You were supposed to tell me if he woke up."

"And I've asked you repeatedly to call me Ducky, Amy. It would appear that neither of us is fond of following directions," Amy turned back to Jethro.

"I'm going to go alert Dr. Powell that you're awake, Agent Gibbs. She'll be in shortly," with a final half-hearted scowl for Ducky the young nurse exited the room. Gibbs glared at his friend.

"Oh, don't give me that, Jethro," Ducky complained. "You're certainly one to expect me to follow the rules," Jethro was about to reply when the door opened once again to reveal a middle-aged woman wearing a white lab coat. Her light brown hair was cut well above her shoulders.

"Good to see you're awake, Agent Gibbs. Dr. Virginia Powell, I'm a trauma specialist. And good to see you again, Ducky. Amy informs me I should be angry with you."

"My apologies, Ginny," Ducky answered charmingly. Ginny smiled.

"Well, Agent Gibbs? How long have you been awake?" Jethro shrugged slightly.

"Not too long," Ginny raised an eyebrow.

"I was hoping for something a little more specific."

"I don't know," he admitted. Ginny sighed.

"How are you feeling?"

"Fine."

"Triple GSW, Agent Gibbs? I don't buy 'fine,'" Gibbs glared at Ginny distastefully.

"Maybe a little sore."

"But no extreme pain?" Jethro was quickly losing patience with the doctor.

"Ya think, Doc?"

"I suppose you're also interested in Director Shepard's condition?" Jethro's glare evaporate along with his bad mood. Maybe this doctor wasn't so bad after all. "You're listed as her next of kin," Ginny explained.

"Okay," Jethro said slowly. "How is she?" Ducky looked to his friend with mild concern.

"To be honest, Agent Gibbs, she's doing much better than expected, considering the extent of her injuries. The shot to her right arm was a through-and-through but we had to extract a bullet from her shoulder. Thanks to the quick response time we able to completely repair it. She'll have a fairly extensive recovery time, of course, but she'll retain full use of the arm." Jethro braced himself for what was coming next. The last two shots were the dangerous wounds, and the ones that had been his fault.

"One bullet grazed her side; it wasn't a deep wound but unfortunately it was fairly large; there was a lot of blood loss from that area. The other hit her in the abdomen. It missed the major organs which is a small miracle in and of itself. Unfortunately, Director Shepard has not yet regained consciousness."

"Jenny," Jethro said pointedly.

"Excuse me?"

"Her name's Jenny."

"Of course. Well, we think the coma is just Jenny's body giving itself some time to heal. We're limiting the drugs she's given at this point so as not to prolong the coma, though she has been on intravenous antibiotics since arrival. Brain activity appeared to be unimpaired. She's also resumed breathing on her own, which is an excellent sign." Jethro tried to take everything in. It was a lot to follow.

"I want to see her," he asserted. Ginny's face took on a thoughtful expression.

"I'd prefer if you gave your stitches another day first, Agent Gibbs. Your femoral artery was nicked by the bullet in your thigh and that's definitely not an injury I want re-opening."

"I need to see Jenny," Jethro repeated. Why did no one understand how important it was? The doctor could give him as many damn positive reports as she wanted; he still wouldn't be happy until he saw her breathing. Hell, he wouldn't be happy until he saw her awake, but breathing was a start.

"Tomorrow," Ginny told him firmly. "I so sympathize, but you're no use to her bleeding on the floor." Jehtro's sour expression returned. "I'll see you tomorrow, Agent Gibbs, Ducky. And I'll make sure the floor knows you'll be visiting Jenny's room," Ginny left the room.

"Well, that was certainly decent news, was it not, Jethro?" Ducky asked, attempting to cheer his unhappy friend.

"I need to see her, Duck. No one gets it."

"I do, Jethro, I do," Ducky said softly.


	4. Chapter 4

AN: Sorry about that unannounced hiatus. I hope some people are still reading this! I'm hoping to update more frequently now but it will be as the chapters are written so don't expect a regular schedule. Also this chapter is kind of long. Sorry if it's an overwhelming amount of text, I just wasn't sure where else to break it.

* * *

Damage Control

Chapter Four

Amy let out a frustrated sigh. She had been assigned to escort Agent Gibbs to Director Shepard's room and so far he had been nothing but difficult.

"Agent Gibbs, I don't think that when Dr. Powell cleared you to visit Jenny she meant you were ready to be walking around on your own."

"I'm fine," Jethro contradicted for the fifth time that morning. He didn't want Amy wheeling him into Jenny's room; he wanted to go by himself.

Jethro enthusiastically swung his left leg out of the bed, inpatient to leave. But his confidence vanished as he set weight on his right foot, causing pain to shoot through the limb. Still, he kept quiet and maneuvered as well as he could while doing his best to hide the pain. Jenny's room was just next door, he could limp that far.

Amy followed close behind, but when the trio reached Jenny's door Ducky stopped her with a gentle hand on her shoulder.

"Let him have some time with her alone," Ducky whispered.

The door clicked shut behind Jethro. He sat beside Jenny's bed and just looked at her.

They'd washed out the blood that had been caked in her hair, which hung loose around her head. The right side of her face was purplish from bruising, probably obtained when she fell to the ground. Her right arm was mostly hidden by a cast. He winced at the thought of her bones being broken by a bullet. Jethro could barely see the wires poking out from under the impersonal hospital blanket. Wires that connected to the machines that proved she was still alive. Her heart monitor let out a small beep at regular intervals. The sound was almost comforting; not the same as listening to her heartbeat but Jethro would take what he could get.

He reached for her left hand. Gently he rubbed his thumb over the back of it; careful to avoid the IV that was attached. Jethro had envisioned this first conversation with Jenny so many times, but now that he was here he had no words. He wanted to close his eyes—he couldn't bear to see the damage those men had done—but he forced himself to remember that she was alive and breathing. Maybe it wasn't enough, but it was a start.

The truth was, there was a lot he needed to discuss with her, but it could not be done until she was able to answer him. There was, for instance, that night in November, when Jenny had offered her home to a scared little boy. Jethro hadn't known until that day how good Jenny was at taking care of children, and he was fairly certain Jenny hadn't known either. That evening had been so far removed from the reality they'd grown accustomed to over the last three years, Jethro understood completely why Jenny had gone temporarily mad and asked him to stay. He probably would have done the same in her place.

He'd said 'no.' Despite his feelings for her, despite the fact that he wanted nothing more than to throw his arms around her and kiss like nothing had ever gone wrong, he'd said 'no.' But she wasn't taking 'no' for an answer. And he'd never been any good at winning their arguments.

They hadn't discussed it.

Both had agreed that Carson didn't need to know he'd spent the night. So Jethro had slipped out at sunrise. He'd gone home, taken a shower, changed his clothes, and gone into work. Jethro had waited for Jenny to make the first move—she was the one who had asked him to stay—but she hadn't said a word.

Six months and not a single word.

Outside the room Ziva approached Ducky and Amy, the latter of whom had her eyes glued to the tiny window in the door, apparently convinced something bad was going to happen if Jethro wasn't supervised.

"Any change?" she whispered, pausing to sip the smoothie that represented the entirety of her breakfast.

"Director Shepard is still stable and Agent Gibbs is still just as determined to get himself killed," Amy replied petulantly, "I cannot believe Dr. Powell cleared him to visit her today."

"Well I hardly think Ginny expected him to insist on walking to her room by himself," Ducky contributed in a tone that betrayed his mild amusement, "but at least he's sitting down now. You'll come to understand, Amy, that with Jethro you must pick your battles. Walking five steps down the hall with supervision is hardly going to kill him." Amy rolled her eyes.

"Will I able to go in there, Ducky? I feel badly that I did not speak to Gibbs yesterday."

"Don't worry about it, Ziva, Tony and Abby left to work on the case and Ginny refused to let them back in. Jethro wasn't particularly interested in seeing anyone in any case," _Except Jenny_, Ducky added silently. "You can see him anytime but I suggest you wait out here for a few minutes. This is the first he's seen Jenny since they got here."

"Of course," Ziva's smile demonstrated her understanding.

Jethro's reverie was broken by the opening of the door.

"I wish I could have seen you yesterday," a familiarly accented voice said, "but Jenny needed my company."

"It's fine, Ziver," Jethro answered quickly.

"Well it's nice to see you awake. Every time I leave for a moment I keep hoping Jenny will be awake when I return," Ziva's face clouded. Jethro looked at her gratefully. Ziva and Jenny were close. While it wasn't the same bond Jenny and Jethro shared, Ziva at least could come close to understanding what he was going through.

"Did I miss anything?" Jethro asked finally.

"Not much. Tony is running the investigation but so far we have not made any progress in determining who hired the director's would-be assassins. Tony and I have not given our official statements yet. We have been making excuses for days but Acting Director Vance is getting… pushy," Ziva paused. "How much do you remember of what happened?"

"The details of the firefight are a little fuzzy," Jethro admitted. Ziva nodded.

"We arrived shortly after the EMS did."

"Later," Jethro wanted to find out what he was missing but now, he felt, was not the time. A thought occurred to him. "Is there any security for her?" As long as the threat to Jenny's life was still active Jethro wanted as many agents as possible.

"The LA office has their people at the front desk and outside the building. This room has a very short list of authorized visitors," Ziva looked at the man she'd grown so close to. It was unusual to see him so helpless. "Do you think she will wake up soon?"

"I dunno," he answered, lost in thought.

"What does your gut tell you?" she pressed. Jethro shook his head.

"Nothing," Ziva's cellphone buzzed. She flipped it open.

"It is Tony. Apparently I am needed. Oh, and he wanted me to tell you that 911 supposedly cannot find the tapes of the call from your cellphone, but that McGee has the logs." Jethro didn't respond. "I will see you later Gibbs," Ziva smiled as she left the room. She paused to speak to Ducky on her way out. "Something is wrong. He is not himself," she whispered.

"He probably won't be until Jenny wakes up," Ducky told her. "On the few other occasions in which she was hurt he did not take it at all well, and none of those were anywhere near this serious."

Inside Jenny's room Jethro was once again pondering the night in November.

_"It's been a long time. Us. Outside the office."_

_"Unless you count hospitals and car-chases." _

_"I wasn't."_

_"There was a time when I would have asked you stay, and I wouldn't have taken 'no' for an answer."_

_"No."_

_"I don't think you understood. I'm not taking 'no' for an answer." _

_That was when she'd kissed him. After that, it was impossible to resist. It was impossible to pretend he had not longed for to do exactly that; impossible to pretend that he had not kissed her back. _

_He'd thought it would be impossible to keep lying about how much he loved her, too._

Jethro didn't know how much time passed before his motley team appeared in the doorway and carefully asked permission to enter. He waved them, not really caring either way as long as he didn't have to leave Jenny's side.

"Boss, are you ready to hear about our investigation now?" McGee asked nervously.

"Yeah, go," Jethro answered distractedly.

"Apparently, LA 911 is incapable of locating a call that came in three days ago," Tony began, obviously annoyed.

"They switched everything over to digital in January," Tim explained apologetically, "And whoever was in charge of setting it up didn't correctly specify where the data should be stored. It's actually not that difficult to fix but they very rudely told me that they 'didn't have time.' I did make them promise to send a copy of the hard drive with their records on it to the LA office so as soon as they tell me it's there I can find the recording."

"They did, however, supply is with their log which states that the call came in at 4:02 pm on Tuesday, May 20th, 2008. They arrived on the scene twenty minutes later," Ziva added.

"Even at ambulance speeds, that diner's way out in the Mojave," Tony noted.

"So… what does that mean?" Tim sounded confused.

"It means," All eyes turned to Jethro as he spoke up, "That whatever the 911 caller told them it was enough to make them get out there in a hurry."

"Does either of you guys remember when you got to the diner?" Tim asked, turning to his teammates.

"4:25," Ziva answered quickly. Tony and Tim stared at her. She shrugged it off. "I remember looking at the clock as we pulled in." Tony's eyes met Ziva's as the two agents flashed back to the moment they arrived on the scene.

_"NCIS!" Ziva called anxiously, displaying her badge for the paramedics. _

_"Look," One of them answered impatiently, "Our job is to get the patients to the nearest hospital. LA PD will be here in a couple minutes, you can talk to them."_

_"NCIS is going to be handling this," Tony said firmly. _

_ "Look, Buddy," another EMT replied, addressing Tony, "I don't know what jurisdiction NCIS thinks it's got here, but you can argue with the LA PD. I've got a Jane Doe whose chances of survival get lower the longer she waits for surgery."_

_"She," Tony said, indicating Jenny who was being placed in an ambulance on a stretcher "Is not a Jane Doe. Her name is Jennifer Shepard and she's the Director of NCIS. And he," Tony gestured towards Gibbs, "Is Special Agent Leroy Jethro Gibbs who was acting as her security."_

"Boss, do you have any idea approximately what time the shoot-out started at?"

"It was maybe 2:45 when I left the bar. Never looked at a clock after that."

The three agents exchanged glances, as if silently deciding who would speak up. The senior field agent cleared his throat.

"Unless you want us to do something else, Boss, we were going to go to the LA office and try to make some headway."

"Sure, go," Jethro answered. It was important that they find out who wanted Jenny dead. Jethro would not sleep well until whoever hired her would-be assassins was in custody—or, better yet, dead.

"And I," Ducky stated, "am headed to the cafeteria. I'll be back shortly, and you can call if anything comes up."

Tony and Tim left immediately, followed by Ducky, but Ziva lingered.

"Jenny knows why those men were trying to kill her, yes?" she asked. Jethro watched Jenny's motionless face.

"Yeah, she knows," he answered softly.

"But she did not tell you?" Ziva pressed. Jethro shook his head, his eyes not leaving the lifeless director.

"No."

"And you did not ask?"

"Sometimes, Ziva, you just have to trust." For a moment the younger woman watched him watching Jenny, and then she followed her colleagues out the door.

Jethro had told Ziva the truth about trusting people, but he had lied to her earlier. His gut told him nothing about when Jenny would wake up, but there was something bothering him about the investigation, something his team didn't know about.

No one had seen Mike Franks since he'd gone out for water.


	5. Chapter 5

AN: I had planned to have this up a couple days ago but I had an MRI on Thursday, amongst other things, and that day was completely lost to productivity. (And yes, everything is fine.) I'm actually pretty happy with this chapter. It's a little shorter than I imagined but I think it's worth it.

* * *

Damage Control

Chapter Five

Ducky had said he was getting lunch in the cafeteria. He hadn't said he was eating alone.

"You said you had some concerns, Ducky, did you mean about Agent Gibbs or Director Shepard?" Ginny dipped a French fry into a small pool of ketchup.

"Both of them, but Jenny mainly. She's been here four days and hasn't come any closer to regaining consciousness. I suppose what I want to know is… whether this is typical of a patient with injuries such as hers." Ginny shrugged.

"It's not a terribly uncommon reaction. My theory is that she'll wake up when she's ready, however I am ordering another MRI and EEG just to check on her brain functions. I may not have treated the director of NCIS before, Ducky, but I've seen this kind of trauma for twenty years." Ducky felt horrible. He hadn't meant to insult the doctor.

"Oh, Ginny, I wasn't implying I don't trust your medical abilities. I have been nothing but impressed with your treatment of my two close friends." Ginny sensed that the aging Scot was still uncomfortable.

"Ducky," she asked gently, "Is there something you're not telling me?" Ducky sighed.

"I… I was hoping I wouldn't have to… I promised her I wouldn't tell anyone. Now that her life is on the line, however, I see no choice. I can't let her secret interfere with her treatment…"

"Ducky," she prompted.

"Several months ago Jenny asked me to test a sample of her blood. Her creatine kinase levels were elevated, and combined with symptoms she'd been experiencing… we looked over her medical history and determined that the most likely cause was polymyositis."

"Was she undergoing any treatment for her condition prior to the shooting?" Ginny's question was professional.

"I don't know. Given that it's really not my field I didn't feel comfortable dispensing medication but I did encourage her to see a specialist. She never told me what she'd decided to do," Ginny nodded.

"The only problem I'm foreseeing is that polymyositis patients are supposed to avoid prolonged bed rest. We're going to need to get her moving at least a little bit as soon as possible, but there's really nothing to be done until she's awake," Ginny stood. "If you'll excuse me, my lunch hour is almost over," Ducky took a deep breath. He hated being in this position.

"Ginny, just one more thing… Gibbs doesn't know," the two doctors exchanged a look that said everything he needed to know. Ducky remained at the table drowning in his own guilt. He'd never planned to betray her trust.

Jenny's tests took place the next morning. Jethro was back in his own room, trying to fill in the gaps that lingered in his memory of the shooting.

"You said I carried her, right?" he asked again.

"Well, you were both unconscious when EMS arrived but they said it looked like that's what happened. No one could think of any other explanation," Ducky answered carefully.

"Something's just not adding up," Jethro muttered.

_He'd been taken by surprise with that last shot. A sudden pain in his right thigh and he'd fallen to the ground, blood pouring from the wound. Then a cluster of gunshots went off and the next thing he saw was Jenny's face hovering over him, stricken with worry. _

_"Jethro?" she asked softly. _

_"I'm okay, Jen," he coughed slightly as he spoke, winded from the fall. He began to sit up, only to be firmly pushed back down. _

_"Don't walk yet, you'll only make it worse," Jenny admonished. Jethro noticed the bloodstains on her blouse. _

_"How bad?"_

_"Not bad. Got grazed on the side but the blood loss is slowing down. Through and through in my right arm but I can still use it," Careful of both of their wounds Jenny gently dragged Jethro to a clear corner of the wrecked restaurant, wincing at the size of the bloody puddle he left behind. _

_"Take off your jacket," she murmured, her eyes raking his body for any more bullet wounds. "Did you get hit anywhere else?" _

_"Couple slugs, they're not bad."_

_"They're still gunshot wounds, Jethro," she complained. _

_"Yeah, Jen, and you're taking yours so seriously."_

_"Just let me do something before you bleed out," Jenny complained. She didn't make tourniquet, though she knew he probably needed one. She just fashioned the fabric of what had once been Jethro's second-favorite coat into an absorbent wrap. "If this doesn't hold you have to tell me, and I'll try to find something to make a tourniquet with, okay?" _

Jethro frowned. "I remember carrying her out, Duck, that's the thing. But she wasn't nearly as bad as I was."

"Jethro," Ducky answered, "I think the other two shots came after she bandaged your leg," Jethro considered the theory. He began retreating into his mind, searching for anything at all, when he hit a clue.

"She didn't scream," he muttered, more to himself than to his friend.

"What was that?" Ducky asked, his brow crinkled in confusion.

"I think," Jethro said slowly, going through everything he knew in his mind, "I think I remember what happened."

_Jenny was still bent over Jethro's wound, examining her handiwork, when the shot came from across the room. It hit her shoulder from the back and stayed there. Her arm fell limp to her side, suddenly dead weight, but she did not cry out in pain. Before either could react the second bullet caught her abdomen and she crumpled silently to the floor. Jethro reacted as fast as possible, raising the weapon that was still in his hand and aiming it. The shots had come from one of the attackers who, lying on the ground, had decided to try for a little more damage. It was obvious that the wounded assassin didn't have much time left but Jethro pulled the trigger anyway, just as a precaution. _

_He scrambled to his feet and rolled Jenny to her back so he could see her face. Her eyes were still open and she was breathing, though it was belabored. _

_"Come on, Jen, stay with me," he muttered, trying to think of what he could do. _

_"I'm here, Jethro," she coughed weakly. He breathed a sigh of relief. Gently, so as not to make her wounds any worse. Jethro positioned the weakened redhead on his back and threw her arms around his shoulders. _

_"Just hang on, Jen, we're getting out of here," he felt none of the confidence he spoke with, but was comforted when he felt Jenny grip her right hand with her left. It was then that he thought to call for help._

"That hit man was damn determined, emptying his weapon on his dying breath," Jethro remarked angrily. "I put a bullet between his eyes."

Ducky was about to answer when the door flew open to reveal three breathless NCIS agents.

"Boss! I found the recording of the 911 call!" Tim exclaimed.

"You're gonna want to hear this," Tony added.

"Do you know who made the call or not?" Jethro's normal personality shone through as he became exasperated.

"I did," the three agents spun around in shock as the owner of the familiar voice strolled casually into the room. "Feelin' better yet, Probie?"

"Been worse, Mike," despite the circumstances Jethro's signature smirk found its way to his lips. The retired agent's eyes flicked around the room. Mike Franks frowned.

"Where's Jenny?" Until four days ago Mike had never thought of the female NCIS director in such familiar terms. But she'd proved herself to him beyond any shadow of a doubt, and, though he'd never admit it, Mike had grown oddly fond of the stubborn redhead.

The other inhabitants of the room exchanged an uncomfortable glance.

"She's in a coma, Mike," Jethro answered quietly. The color drained from Mike's face.

"What the hell happened, Probie?" Mike spat, his voice a mixture of anger and worry.

"She lost a lot of blood. She took four bullets."

"Last I saw you were the one bleedin' all over the place."

"What exactly was the last thing you saw?" the question came from Tony.

"I heard something going on, so I ran back to diner. There was guy out back; I shot him in the head. By the time I got there the fight was done, Probie here was lying on the ground, Jenny was helping him out. I saw a cellphone a couple yards in so I called 911 and then I got outta there. There wasn't anything else I could do for those two."

"I didn't notice you come in," Jethro commented.

"You were pretty distracted with bleeding out on the floor," Mike reached into his pocket and removed a slightly battered cellphone. "Thought you might want this back."

"That is evidence," Ziva said firmly. "I will take it," she held out an evidence bag. Jethro nodded to Mike who proceeded to drop it inside. The group paused as a light knock sounded.

"Yeah," Jethro called. Ginny opened the door. She glanced at the new visitor for a moment but did not question is presence.

"I looked over Jenny's test results as soon as they were finished."

"And?" Jethro prompted impatiently. Ginny sighed.

"There's no sign of brain damage. She'll wake up when she's ready, but it's likely that it will be a couple days. There's not much more we can do until then," Jethro didn't like what he was hearing.

"Can I at least go back to her now?" he asked.

"Absolutely," Ginny smiled. Thought she'd never tell him she found her patient's devotion to Director Shepard adorable.

"If you three have anything else you can follow," Jethro told his team.

"We'll just go back to work, if you can call it that, considering we're going nowhere. Vance set up a space for us to use at the LA office."

"Mike..."

"I've been trying to look out for Decker's family, Probie. Don't want another Sasha on our hands," Jethro nodded.

"Go back to them," The team and Mike filed silently out.

"If you don't mind, Jethro I—"

"Whatever it is you need to do, Duck, go," Jethro replied irritably. He was tired of everyone looking to him for permission to go on with their lives.

By late afternoon Jethro was still alone with Jenny. He didn't know where the others were and he didn't really care. Her heart monitor continued beeping at a regular interval. Jethro was staring out the window when the difference in the sound caught his attention. He turned to Jenny and almost stopped breathing when he saw her stirring. Her eyes fluttered half open.

"Jethro, where's m'gun?" her faint words slurred together.

"Jen?" he asked excitedly. The director of NCIS gestured roughly in the direction of the beeping monitor.

"Gimme my gun so I can shoot that damn machine," she muttered. Jethro couldn't help but smile. His Jenny was back.


	6. Chapter 6

AN: Once again, I'm sorry for the wait. It's been a busy summer and my muse basically abandoned me on this one for a while. This one chapter was inredibly difficult to write for some reason but I'm hoping the next one will go more smoothly. There is a very important conversation in this one that I had not intended to include this early and I'm a little nervous about it. So even though I try not to ask for reviews I would like to make it known that on this one I would really appreciate the feedback.

And just a little note about the end of Chapter Five and the beginning of this one: Yes, heart monitors really are _that_ annoying.

* * *

Damage Control

Chapter Six

"Feeling okay, Jen?" he asked gently.

"Whad'ya think?" she fired back her retort without even moving. "Noise doesn't help." Frustrated, Jethro yanked the heart monitor's plug from the wall.

"Better?"

"Much," she answered, with the hint of a smile. Jenny fell silent after that and Jethro didn't encourage her to speak, knowing she was exhausted. A moment later, however, the pair was disrupted by the sudden appearance of Amy in the room, looking incredibly miffed.

"I should have known," she said, glaring at Jethro.

"Hey, you just lost vitals on one of your patients, shouldn't you be a little more panicked right now?" he asked.

"We didn't get a flatline signal, we got a complete loss of signal," she stated icily.

"Oh, I didn't know there was a difference," Jethro mused, glancing idly at the monitor.

"Your agency should be very glad you didn't choose more violent means of disabling expensive hospital equipment, Agent Gibbs," Amy complained.

"He'd be on his own for that," Jenny countered, causing Amy's eyes to widen. As she spun back to Gibbs she saw him chuckling softly and her eyes narrowed again.

"So not only did you tamper with our equipment you failed to mention that Director Shepard had regained consciousness?" Amy shook her head. "I'm going to page Dr. Powell," she added, stepping out into the hallway.

"How long was I out, Jethro?" Her voice grew stronger with every word.

"The diner was four days ago," Jethro added, tensing up in mid-sentence. He'd almost forgotten; three years ago today, Kate had died. But he didn't have time to dwell on that right now.

"Jethro, about that…" Jenny was interrupted by Amy's return.

"I spoke to Dr. Powell on the phone, she'll be in shortly. In the meantime I've been asked to take your vitals," the nurse explained, preparing a blood pressure cuff. "My names is Amy, by the way, I've been assigned to this area of the hospital for the duration of your stay. Your agents requested that the hospital limit the number of staff caring for you for security reasons," Amy finished her explanation and her tests at the same time. "No red flags so far. In fact, for someone who was just in a coma, you're in excellent health," she commented. "The doctor will explain the rest.

The young nurse exited, leaving Jethro and Jenny alone one again. The words "good health" echoed in Jenny's mind.

_"My health is fine, yours, however, might take a turn for the worse if you don't complete your investigation."_

It wasn't the first lie she'd ever told him but it was one of the hardest.

Jethro knew Jenny was hiding something but had no idea what. Hoping it had something to do with the assassination attempt he decided to broach the subject.

"Jen, I know you just woke up, but I need to know who wants you dead," he spoke as gently as he could. Jenny turned her head a few inches to face him; an enormous effort for her exhausted body.

"Us, Jethro. She had Decker killed and we're next," Jenny and Jethro had only ever worked one case with Special Agent William Decker, and he could think of only one woman who might have a grudge against all of them. But that was impossible; she was dead.

"Her name, Jen," Jethro pressed, much less gently this time. Jenny tried to keep the guilt out of her voice; a last ditch effort to maintain some dignity in the eyes of the man whose opinion she valued most as her greatest failure was finally revealed.

"Svetlana Chenitskaya."

Jethro's eyes filled with anger for the first time since Jenny had awakened.

"You told me she was dead," he growled expecting an explanation.

"And you told me it would be easy!" Jenny retorted, finding an unexpected fire. "How was I supposed to tell you that I, your perfect protégé, couldn't complete an assignment you dubbed 'easy?'"

"You never even fired a shot," Jethro muttered.

"I did. And I missed."

"Your sig only have one bullet, Jen?"

"There were innocent bystanders, Jethro, and after I killed that man…" she rarely mentioned the shooting; a mistake she'd made shortly after arriving in Paris. But it had affected her deeply. "I almost told you, you know."

_"Jethro, my target, when I found her—"_

_"Don't talk shop, Jen," his voice was seductive, it was hard to concentrate. "Not on our anniversary."_

Jenny knew from the guilt in his eyes that Jethro was remembering the same night she was. She cleared her throat, returning them both to the present.

"We have a lot to talk about, Jethro."

"When this is over, Jen, we'll talk," he said firmly. She knew from his voice that he wouldn't be going anywhere until she was well and Svetlana was caught—or, more likely, dead. She had his forgiveness, and, though it was temporary, it relieved a little of her pain. And soon she would tell him her other secrets, too.


End file.
